Sermon Text:

The world has always been hostile to Christianity. There has never been a golden age of faithfulness. The good old days were not old and they were not good. Sin and oppression have been at work in every era, including those that we, perhaps naively, look upon with nostalgia. But, the opposition to biblical truth today is becoming openly and increasingly aggressive in ways we have not experienced before in this country. How then should we live as gospel people and good neighbors in a society openly hostile to the gospel?

This isn’t a new question. These challenges are new to us but brothers and sisters in other times and places have often faced them.  Today we begin a new series working our way verse by verse, passage by passage through the book of 1 Peter. We are calling this series Faith Forged in Fire because Peter is writing to believers who were beginning to experience what it was like to live in an environment hostile to Christian faith. As the gospel spread in the first century, so did the negative reaction to it. It doesn’t seem these believers were facing open persecution, but were facing opposition and suffering because of their faith.

Peter writes to remind them that those who find their hope and identity in Jesus should never despair because the glory to come is worth it. Today we will look just at the greeting but everything else that he will say in the letter is already compacted into these two verses. There is some heavy stuff here but all this deep theology is given to the practical end of strengthening and encouraging believers. Peter prepares them to endure trials by first reminding them of who they are and what God is doing in them. That is the main idea of the message this morning; Knowing our identity in Christ and understanding what God’s is working in us empowers enduring faith.

Peter begins with who he is, 

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ

The word apostle means one who is sent. He is a messenger of Jesus Christ, sent with authority to proclaim the truth. He is an eyewitness of the suffering and the glory of Jesus and through him God is laying the foundation of truth upon which he is building his church. This is not just Peter’s advice. Through him God is speaking. Speaking to these readers and speaking to us. 

Next, Peter addresses who they are and the way he does so is remarkable.

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.

There are several things here to unpack, each of which are like clips on a spiritual safety harness to keep believers from being discouraged or falling into despair. He starts by describing them as 

elect exiles of the Dispersion

First, they are “elect”. This word means that they were chosen. Election has become a controversial doctrine but it is a common biblical concept and it is the first thing Peter uses to describe these believers who are experiencing difficulty. That is not a coincidence.

In biblical language this is not a neutral word. This is one of the most intimate expressions in the Bible and it is only used for those to whom God is devoted. It is a term that describes people who have a special relationship with God because God took the initiative to love them uniquely. God chose Israel from all the nations and entered into a covenant with her. Jesus is God’s chosen one to bring salvation, and believers in Jesus are a people called out of the world into a loving relationship with God which he initiated.

What I want you to see right now is that this is a truth that should bring comfort not concern to God’s people. The first thing Peter thinks to say to believers struggling is that God chose them. Election is always introduced in the Bible in contexts that provide assurance to God’s people. 

Sometimes we might hear couples talking. One person might say “I love you” and the other will reply “I love you more”. That is the sort of thing election is. In faith we proclaim our love for God and in his word God says, I loved you first.

Sometimes we struggle with the Christian life and we think, this is impossible, I can’t keep going. God says, apart from me it was impossible for you to begin, but my love enabled you. You think it is impossible now to continue, but I love you and am with you. We can be confident we will make it to glory not because of our great devotion to him, but because of his great devotion to us.

What greater comfort could be offered to those encountering challenges than that the all-powerful, sovereign God of the universe has set his eye upon them in love. Paul says it this way in Romans 8:28,

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  

Even if it doesn’t look like that sometimes, we can trust that God knows what he is doing. If you ever look inside a watch you will see various gears moving in opposition to one another. Lots of the parts appear to be going in the wrong direction, and yet it is designed so that even the contrary movements work together to support the steady motion of the watch. So it is with our lives. We look at the gears and it is hard to make sense of it, but God has designed it all for our good and his glory.

Next, Peter says they are 

exiles of the Dispersion

An exile is one who is forced to live in a land that is not their own. These are blessed ones, beloved of God, but they are not in their homeland. They are citizens of another kingdom who now live in one place while their heart is in another. Believer, do not expect things to be comfortable here, this is not our home. 

A couple years ago the U.S. hastily evacuated military personnel from Afghanistan. It happened so quickly that there were many U.S. citizens left behind who were unable to get to the airport. They were surrounded and in a hostile country. They had to journey through all sorts of dangers and difficulties to be brought back home.

Of course, God doesn’t evacuate, but living as a Christian in a fallen world is to live behind enemy lines. We know our king will conquer and is coming soon, but that doesn’t make the suffering and sacrifices any less real. It does, however, give us the strength to keep going.

It is interesting Peter says they are exiles “of the dispersion”. Each of these three words, elect, exiles, and dispersion were used in the Old Testament to describe Israel but we wouldn’t expect to see them together. To be elect relates to God’s blessing but in the Old Testament exile relates to God’s judgment.

Israel was sent into exile, which was called the diaspora, or dispersion, because of their unfaithfulness. God brought other nations to judge them and they were conquered and scattered throughout other nations.

Peter draws on this Old Testament idea of exile but introduces something new that is an astounding claim about who believers are. He says they are dispersed

in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia

These are all provinces that are in modern day Turkey. Jews were certainly dispersed into these places but Peter isn’t writing to dispersed Jews, he is writing to churches. These early churches were founded primarily in Jewish communities that existed as a result of the exile, but these churches included both Jews and gentiles.

Peter isn’t addressing them as Jews, but as a new community brought together in Christ. What is amazing about that is that this brings together a few promises related to the last age. Messiah would come and establish his kingdom, defeat the enemies, and God’s name would be glorified even among the gentiles. 

By using this language Peter is highlighting that they are participants in the beginning of the fulfillment of the promises of the last age. The kingdom has dawned. The Messiah has come and is now calling people to God from every tribe and tongue and nation. 

Whereas Israel was dispersed in judgment, the church is dispersed in grace. They are not cursed exiles, they are blessed exiles. Peter is telling them… this is who you are. You are seeing what so many have longed in faith to see. You are experiencing the beginning of the restoration. Through faith they have become partakers in the promises and through faith even these gentiles have been added in.

Peter has established that God loves them, he has chosen them, but they will also be witnesses whose citizenship is in one kingdom and who must live, for a time, in another. He doesn’t stop there. He wants to strengthen them even further by showing them how and why they are where they are.

The first thing I want you to see is the cooperation among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in this work. Every aspect of our salvation and all that comes with it is Trinitarian. There is one God who exists in three persons and it is crucial to understand that each person of the Godhead is involved in what the others do. They do not act independently.

I bring this up because I talk to many believers who think of the Father as a holy God of judgment, and think of Jesus as a loving and merciful God as if the two have different natures. It isn’t true that Jesus has to convince the Father to love us. It also isn’t true that Jesus would never judge. 

The Father is not reluctant to show mercy. John 3:16–17 says,

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

It is the love of the Father that sent the Son. Similarly, the wrath of God poured out in judgment is the wrath of the Lamb. Everything true about the divine nature, both holiness and love, power and mercy are true of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and they always work in perfect unity. Listen to what Jesus says in John 5:19–23,

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 

21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

In verse 2 Peter begins to unpack this cooperation that results in believers being elect exiles dispersed throughout the world. Each of these phrases modifies the word elect. First, he says they are elect 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

Believers are chosen based on God foreknowing them. This is another of those intimate terms the Bible uses to describe those God loves. A lot of people look at this and think, “OK, God looks ahead to see who will choose him, and then he chooses those that he foreknows will do that.” 

I can understand why people struggling with the idea of God choosing would want to read it that way, but that just isn’t how the Bible develops this idea. Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that God looks forward to what people will do and chooses on that basis. It does not say anywhere that it is the choices or actions that he foreknows, but that he foreknows the people. 

God is perfect in knowledge. He never has to learn anything. He does not gain information from observing the world either now or what will be in the future. If he could, he would not be God. God is not reacting to new information the way we do because he never receives any new information. He doesn’t need to look forward to see what you will do, all knowledge originates within himself. His foreknowledge is not about processing information, it is about his eternal affection for his people.

For example, in Amos 3:2 God says to Israel, “You only have I known among all the families of the earth.” He doesn’t mean that he was unaware of the others, but it was only to them that he was devoted. In Matthew 7:23 Jesus says to those who did mighty works but did not believe, “I never knew you, depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” He isn’t saying he doesn’t know their names. He is saying they had no relationship with him. 

We know this is the way Peter uses the word because later in verse 20 he says, “Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world” but was made visible to them in these last days. God didn’t look forward to see what Jesus was going to do. The Son and the Father are one. 

This word foreknowledge is about intimacy, love, and devotion. God’s foreknowledge is his covenant love from which all the means of salvation flow. Paul lays it out this way in Romans 8:29–30,

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  

His foreknowledge is of people and all those people he foreknew he predestined to become like Jesus. All those are called. This is the inward call to which believers respond to the gospel because all those who are called are also justified, meaning their sins are forgiven. All those who are forgiven are also glorified, which means they will be raised in perfection and glory to be with and like Jesus. So, we see an unbreakable chain that runs from God’s foreknowing love to the final salvation of all who believe.

To be chosen according to the foreknowledge of God is to be one in whom God is working to bring to himself. This choice isn’t because he saw anything good in us. It was for the praise of his glory. We didn’t deserve it, he gets all the glory. We see this in Ephesians 1:11–12,

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.  

This love is all of grace. I like the way Martin Luther said it,

“God’s love does not find, but creates that which is loveable.”

As humans, we love because there is something attractive to us that draws us to the object of our love. But that isn’t how God’s love works. There was nothing lovely or attractive in us. God wasn’t moved to love sinners. Instead, it is his love that transforms ugly sinners into saints fit for glory. 

These are deep truths but it is this recognition, that we are saved not because of any goodness in us or because of anything that we do, that is the beginning of understanding the grace of salvation. When we first encounter these truths they are disorienting and confusing. We want to hang on to some part in the process, but I want you to see that it is in letting go that the deepest assurance and peace is found.

Think about how many bad decisions you have made in your life. Now think about how many bad decisions God has made. I’m not sure about you, but I know his number is zero. If the forgiveness of my sins depends upon me in any way, that is not comforting. If I believe what the Bible says about God and about me then I should be far more comfortable trusting myself and my loved ones to the wisdom and choices of a merciful, patient, all-loving, all-knowing, all-mighty God that I would be to trust them or myself.

It was an encouragement to these believers to know that their salvation was the world of God and it should be for us as well. If you are struggling to put all this together, hang in there, these things will unfold in more detail as the letter continues.

Second, he says they are elect, in the sanctification of the Spirit

Not only are they chosen according to the foreknowledge of the Father, but they are sanctified in the Spirit. The word sanctified means to be set apart. It is another word for holy. Peter is saying that the Holy Spirit is the source of the holiness they receive.

We often talk about sanctification as the process of growing in holiness as we mature as believers but I don’t think that is what it means here. The emphasis here is on their identity and particularly their conversion or what it means for them to be the chosen people of God. Remember, the Spirit works in harmony with the Father. I think this is the same idea as we saw in the Romans passage a moment ago related to the calling of those whom God foreknew.

Believers are sanctified by their faith in Jesus. When the Gospel is preached, the Spirit opens the hearts of some to believe. The work of the Spirit is to open the eyes of the blind and draw them to Christ. The offer of salvation goes to all and all resist it until the Spirit opens their eyes. This work of bringing new life, which we sometimes call regeneration or being born again results in a heart that is freed from its bondage to sin to respond to the gospel. 

Once someone exercises faith, they are united to Jesus and are made holy or sanctified by his perfect righteousness. Actually, all the growth in the life of a believer is an outworking of that same faith that unites us to Jesus. All who are believers receive this sanctification which is why the Bible refers to all believers as saints. 

Sadly, the Holy Spirit seems to frequently get overlooked but his work is no less critical to salvation than that of the Father or Son. If it were not for the work of the Spirit no sinner would ever be saved. 

Then finally he says they are elect For obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood

Like the last one, we speak of obedience to Jesus in terms of our growth and walk but this phrase is related to them being chosen and it combines obedience with the sprinkling of Christ’s blood. Here again he is talking about who they became in their conversion. 

We become believers when we obey the gospel and receive the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Obedience in this context is to be obedient in the work which leads to eternal life. It is the work Jesus refers to in John 6:29 where he says,

29 …“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

To obey the gospel in faith is to humble ourselves and trust in Jesus as our only righteousness before God. It is to accept the salvation God offers rather than seeking to gain it in our own way. The Father plans, and the Spirit applies what Christ accomplishes. What he accomplishes is to make us holy ones and bring us to God.

He accomplishes this through the shedding of his blood. In the Old Testament the blood of the sacrificial offering was sprinkled on the mercy seat to make atonement or payment for sin. Those old sacrifices had to be repeated because the blood of bulls and goats can’t take away sin. They pointed to the need for a perfect sacrifice and that is what God provided.

We have all rejected God’s law and ignored his rightful claim as king of our life. We are all rebels who deserve to be punished. Even if we lived perfectly for the rest of our days, we could never erase the sins we have committed. It is impossible for us to earn God’s favor based on the lives we have lived. We don’t even live up to our own standards and we know we have fallen far short of the perfect standard of God.

But God sent Jesus to live a perfect life and then to die as a sacrifice for all who will believe in him as their lord and savior. We were all under the death penalty and Jesus died in our place, offering his blood to satisfy that law who trust in him alone as their righteousness. He was buried and three days later, raised from the dead. The debt was paid, the righteous justice of God was satisfied, and all who are united to Jesus by faith are cleansed by the shedding of his blood.

God offers new life and forgiveness to all who repent and believe. That is the choice each of us must make. If we do, we glorify God knowing it was only by his grace that we were able to do so. Sanctification, obedience, and the sprinkling of blood are just three different ways Peter describes the conversion of believers and how God works out his loving purposes for us. This is the foundation Peter lays for their endurance. A God who loves us this much and who is this involved in bringing us to glory will not abandon us. 

The mystery is that we are loved by God and yet also called by him to live as exiles in a world filled with trials and difficulties. We will see as we continue the series that these also are part of his plan. In all of this we have a solid foundation that allows us to stand firm when the world opposes us and to love even when the world hates us.

We are not in such a time and place by accident. Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth has placed us here as elect exiles. This was his plan and he has brought it about through the work of the Spirit so we respond in obedience to the gospel and are cleansed by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. We are the children of God.

That is what enables us to remain faithful in the face of opposition. Remember our main point? Knowing our identity in Christ and understanding what God’s is working in us empowers enduring faith

I would like to finish this morning with the Apostle Paul’s reflection on these truths in Romans 8:31–39,

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 

36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Amen.